Dr. Pace: Vaccine demand in decline
Demand for COVID-19 vaccines is declining in Lake County as the county transitions to the state-run appointment system, Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
Pace said the county was not filling all of its available appointments, which still cannot be made further in advance than the current week.
“Certainly part of that is because of having to switch around with the appointment scheduling process, and it’s been very confusing for the public,” Pace said.
Pace said the county made the switch to the state’s MyTurn vaccination appointment system on Monday. Appointments can now be made at https://myturn.ca.gov/. However, people over 50 years old, now eligible, were unable to make an appointment as of Tuesday morning due to technical issues that Pace said were being worked out.
Pace said that with supply improving, the county should focus on outreach to people who were hesitant to get vaccinated. This was also a recommendation of the ethics committee created to give the public health officer recommen
dations regarding the vaccine rollout locally. With more people vaccinated, COVID-19 variants won’t be able to move around as much, Pace said.
“I personally feel that we’re moving out of the crisis mode and into a more stable, kind of chronic situation now,” he said. “We’ll see little pockets of infection and things like that, but the best thing that can happen now is for more and more people to get vaccinated.”
Pace said it would likely take the county at least three weeks before it could move from the red to orange tier.
To date, 62% of people age 75 and over and 57% of people age 65-74 over have had at least one vaccine dose in Lake County, said Sarah Marikos, an epidemiologist for the county. The county data presented Tuesday did not include data from Tribal Health.
Supervisor Jessica Pyska encouraged all community members to get a vaccine if they were able to, a sentiment that was echoed by several other supervisors. Pyska also said she volunteered at a vaccination clinic recently with Chair Bruno Sabatier and that the over 40 staff coming from the state to help out would have a big impact.
Sabatier suggested that the Rotary Club may be helpful with outreach regarding vaccine hesitancy and said he would reach out to some members.
Supervisor Eddie Crandell said he had heard from several constituents who were concerned about not having health insurance. Pace said that while people were asked whether they had insurance when they went in for an appointment, insurance was not required, and there was no cost.
In other actions, the board acknowledged over 50 county employees for their terms of service ranging from 5-40 years. Mary Bobrowske-Strong, administrative manager for the sheriff’s department, received a 40-year service award. Jeffrey Rein, a risk manager in the county counsel department, and Lester Deter, a staff services analyst in the social services department, received 30-year service awards.
The board also approved a $78,000 agreement with Visit Lake County California for marketing services for the county. The board agreed to discuss a longerterm funding agreement at a future Tourism Improvement District meeting as the agreement approved Tuesday only goes through June 30.
Brian Fisher, Tourism Improvement District director, said that the focus for the past year pivoted to the website and social media because of the pandemic. The group launched a new website, brought back a monthly newsletter and hired two locals to fill the positions of social media consultant and media relations consultant, Fisher said.
“We focused on building a social following and it worked,” he said, adding that the group saw a 120% increase in Facebook followers over the last year.
Supervisor Moke Simon said he was excited about the opportunity to have more advertising for Lake County as businesses began to open up again.
“That was one thing that I think we were lacking here in the county is telling our story,” Simon said. “A lot of folks were telling our story from the outside, looking in on us, but now we’re doing it from the inside.”